HER SECRET 15

‘Something happened to me, Matt. I’m not the same as I was.’

‘You feel the same, taste just as sweet. Sweeter, I think. Like peppermint.’

She took his face in both hands and pinned his head back. He cast her a bewildered look.

‘There’s something inside me that doesn’t work right.’

Now, he leaned back, folding his arms across his chest.

‘I reckon you’d better be more specific.’

She shot him a tentative look, then dropped her eyes.

He reached for her hand, knit his big fingers through her slender ones. ‘What is it? Did something happen when you had Will?’

‘No. I’m not sure when this happened. I can make love with you, Matt, I want to make love to you. But whatever happens I don’t want you to think it’s your fault. There’s nothing physically wrong. It’s in my head, some cold, hardened part of me.’

When she looked up, she saw anger in his eyes. ‘What did he do to you?’

She knew to whom he was referring. ‘Nothing. It’s me, not anybody else,’

‘Why do you assume the failing was yours and not